The Right Path
by WWEChickXD1
Summary: Agent Peter Burke picks up another kid to take care of, and to set on the right path. Can Peter and El handle TWO young miscreants? WARNING: Spanking of adult and teenager. Lots of cute family-fluff.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One – Deceitful Appearances

"What's up, dad?" Neal asked, stepping into Peter's office and closing the door behind him. Despite the circumstances, Peter gave Neal a tiny grin whenever the younger man called him dad – a special warmth blossomed of inside him when it happened.

"Someone's been stealing expensive and rare pieces of jewelry from displays all over New York for about 2 weeks now," Peter said, tossing the case files in front of Neal. "We have absolutely no idea who it is – the techniques used by the thief don't match any of our other criminals. Hughes is getting sick of it and is sending us in."

"Undercover?" Neal asked.

"That's what I'm considering, but I don't want to send anyone, especially you, in undercover without knowing if this criminal is dangerous."

Neal rolled his eyes. "Come on, Peter, there's no evidence that this person is violent. Besides, you've barely let me tie my shoes without your watchful eye since the Benjamin incident – this is a good start to you loosening your grip on me."

"I don't _ever _plan on 'loosening my grip' on you, young man," Peter said with a slightly raised eyebrow, "but I do think our best plan of action would be send you in. We've calculated that the next most likely display that our thief will hit is the Goldhouse Diamond Jewelry display. They're holding an auction around 3. You'll be attending as a wealthy potential buyer named Carson Goddard. The rest of your undercover ID information is up to your imagination."

Neal grinned rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "When do we leave?"

"About 2 in the afternoon. Right now, we're going to meet mom for lunch – her new friend from China has been teaching her some new Oriental cooking techniques and she wants us to try them."

Neal mulled that over. "This could be either really good or really bad."

Peter chuckled. "I don't care how awful it may be – you pretend you like it or it'll be your ass."

oOo

FBI Agent Peter Burke was a cautious man. A kind, gentle, firm man. But, unfortunately, he was also a very worrisome man. Although he knew the chances of Neal getting hurt were very slim, he wasn't taking his chances – Jones was also sent in undercover, just in case something went wrong. Now all he could do was wait while his boy worked his magic. Neal was dressed in his most expensive suit, face cleanly shaven and not a hair out of place. He fit the description of a rich buyer to the T. He wore a pair of FBI glasses that gave Peter a visual of everything Neal saw, along with a small ear piece that worked at both a microphone and speaker.

Neal carefully yet covertly eyed each and every one of the buyers and browsers at the auction. Though most looked like they had partaken in their fair share of illegal activity, Neal didn't really think that they were here to steal anything. That was, until Neal spotted a very young woman.

"Are you seeing this, Peter?" Neal said quietly. He zeroed in on the young woman, 18 at the oldest, browsing the beautiful selection of diamond jewelry. She looked merely curious, but Neal wasn't so sure that she was here just to look. He recognized the slight stiffness in her composure.

"That can't be our thief, Neal," Peter scoffed. "She's practically a kid."

"Never underestimate the youth of this generation, Peter – their incredibly skilled deceivers."

Peter snorted and kept his eyes on the screen. Neal casually walked up to the display case next to the girl and admired a particularly lovely necklace.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" she commented, flashing a grin that shocked everyone in the van watching threw Neal's glasses – it was every bit as charming as Neal's.

"Very," Neal agreed smoothly. "I have a piece almost identical, but with red sapphires instead of diamonds."

"It must be lovely," she marveled, her eyes wide with excitement. "I've only seen a few red sapphires, but I can honestly say they're one of my most highly favored gems."

"Mine as well. I didn't catch your name…?"

She smiled again and shook Neal's hand. "Moriah," she said. "And yours?"

"Carson Goddard. Do you have a last name?"

"I go by many names – I wouldn't know which one to give you."

Not wanting to seem suspicious, Neal smiled charmingly and dropped the subject. "You can't be more than 18 – I suppose you come from quite the wealthy family to be at an auction such as this."

"I do, my father worked as a head scientist at NASA," Moriah answered, eyeing the necklace once more.

"Really? I worked there for a time, maybe I've met him," Neal lied easily. "What's his name?"

"Branson Summers, he was a burly man with short, brown hair. He died some time ago, though – it's highly unlikely you've ever been acquainted with him."

Back at the van, Jones was searching every record the FBI had access to for Moriah Summers. He found it quite easily – Moriah Summers, age 18, both parents deceased. Only, there was one problem – Moriah had died 6 years ago along with her parents. However, a younger sister named Kaitlyn was still alive and reported missing.

"Move in," Peter ordered, and in a matter of minutes, at least 10 FBI agents flooded the area – and 'Moriah' had taken off running. Peter ran after her, but catching her was not an easy task. She dodged and sprinted, but the girl was no match for the FBI agent. He caught her around the waist and picked her up over his shoulder, only to have her kicking and screaming. Having none of that, he swatted her hard on the backside, and again and again until she finally calmed down.

"We're going to have a _long _talk, young lady," Peter said sternly, setting her back down onto the pavement. He kept a firm grasp on her upper arm, not having a pair of handcuffs with him at the moment and walked the fuming girl back to the van.

oOo

"Has she said anything?" Neal asked, standing next to Peter, crossing his arms identical to his father. They stood outside the interrogation room, looking inside the transparent room that held the young jewel thief.

"Not yet," the older man said, running his hands threw his hair. "She's a mystery – we have absolutely no records of her, no date of birth or anything. Only a mention of her in her older sister's file. She was a FBI trainee, but was killed in a car accident along with her parents. Kaitlyn hasn't been seen since."

"Not even a birth certificate?"

"Nope. Not a thing."

Neal sighed, almost impressed with her anonymity. He wondered how old she really was – the makeup and very professional look she sported made her look much older than probably actually was.

"I'm guessing she's 16," Neal said.

"I'll go with 17. Unless she's extremely skilled with disguises, she can't be younger than 17, I'm positive."

Neal shrugged. "Are you gonna talk to her soon?"

Peter took a deep breath and nodded. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck, dad," Neal chuckled. Ruffling his son's hair, he entered the interrogation room where Kaitlyn was currently residing. She looked up at him, her blue eyes emotionless, and watched him as he sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the table, across from her.

"Kaitlyn Summers," Peter said, opening a notebook and taking a pen out of his jacket pocket. "That's the only piece of information I have on you. Would you mind filling me in?"

Kaitlyn stayed silent, her eyes still fixed on the agent. It seemed like she was trying to determine what she thought of the man.

"Alright," Peter sighed. He tore out two pieces of paper from the notebook and took out another pen. He passed one of each over to Kaitlyn and said, "You write down information and I'll write down information – then we'll compare and see if I guessed the right answers."

Her eyes changed – they looked curious. She nodded and picked up the pen.

"Let's start with age, favorite song, height, weight and favorite thing to watch on TV."

The girl smiled slightly and started writing information down, as did Peter. Two minutes later, Peter passed his paper over to Kaitlyn. She giggled a little bit when she saw a few of his answers, and started correcting. His paper turned out like this:

Age: 17 15

Favorite Song: Eye of the Tiger / Bad by Michael Jackson

Height: 5'5 – _good job _

Weight: 111 lbs. /105 lbs

Favorite thing to watch on TV: football /WWE wrestling

She passed the paper back to Peter and he scanned over the paper. His eyebrows shot to the ceiling.

"15?"

Kaitlyn nodded.

"…wrestling over football?"

She giggled again. "My dad used to watch it with me when I was younger," she told him, intense pain and sadness evident in her voice. "We could never really get into football."

Peter smiled comfortingly. "I'm sorry about what happened to your family, Kaitlyn."

He saw her eyes, once emotionless and strong, moist over and give away the pain that tore at her heart.

"It's fine," she said. She changed the subject quickly. "Can you please make a deal with me?"

"That depends on what you want," Peter answered.

She knew exactly what she wanted. "I still have every item I stole," she said. "I fully admit to it – I'll tell you the locations in exchange for a shorter sentence, maybe…maybe put into foster care or something… I really don't like being on my own, agent Burke."

The look she was giving him tore at his heart-strings. Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and Neal poked his head in.

"El wants a word," the younger man said.

"She's here?"

"She's been here for about 5 minutes. You might want to hurry."

Excusing himself, Peter rushed out the door and into the hall, surprised to see a tearful Elizabeth waiting for him.

"El? What's wrong?" he asked, pulling his wife into his arms.

"We have to help her, Peter," she cried. "She looks so lost – she reminds me so much of Neal, and look at how much progress he's made in such a short amount of time. I know we can help her, give her a family…"

Peter sighed and hugged her tighter. "I'll see what I can do," he promised. "I'll try and get a deal for her similar to Neal's."

"A little sister, huh?" Neal mused from a few feet away. He smiled at the thought. He'd always wanted a little sibling.

**TBA**

**Awwww. Cuteness **

**This is a sort-of continuation of 'Pain and Deception'/ 'My Dad' but not by too much. I hope you'll like it **

**~Rebecca**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two – New Surroundings**

Peter Burke knocked on the door to his boss's office.

"Come in," the serious voice of Hughes said. Peter entered the office and closed the door behind him, then started speaking. "You know about the girl we just arrested for stealing rare jewelry?" Hughes nodded. "We'll I just came from interrogating her, and boss…she's only 15."

Sure enough, the news shocked the older man. "15? Are you positive?"

"She wasn't lying, but I'm sure we'll be able to tell once she takes off all the makeup and changes into some normal clothes," Peter said.

Hughes sighed, this situation now very much more complicated. "What do you think we should do?"

Peter started to say something, but stopped, and shifted nervously. "I have an idea, but I don't know if –"

"Just spit it out, Peter," Hughes sighed, fighting back a little grin. He was acting a bit like his surrogate son, and it amused him.

"Well, Elizabeth and I wouldn't mind taking her in. Have an arrangement with her similar to Neal's?"

Hughes leaned back in his chair and mulled it over. They had made some incredible progress with the young con, and he had no doubt that they would be able to do the same with the girl. "Is she willing to give up her stolen items? And admit to actually stealing them?"

"Yes, sir, she is. I haven't talked to her about this arrangement yet, but I'm fairly sure that she'd be fine with it."

The older man nodded and picked up the phone. He pointed it at Peter and said, "You go talk it over with her. Talk it over with Neal – he has a good heart but he might not be the _best _influence on the kid."

Peter nodded and left as Hughes was dialing up the 'higher ups.' He had a quick conversation with Jones and Diana about the case and then headed straight down to interrogation, where his family waited for the news. He saw the hopeful look on his wife and sons' faces and smiled.

"So far so good," Peter sighed happily. "Hughes has got to talk to some people and probably get her an anklet, or something similar. Now I just need to talk it over with Kaitlyn…"

He looked at the girl threw the glass and observed her solemn expression. She looked nervous, sad – like someone ready to meet their maker. He felt it was time to put her out of her misery. He opened the door and walked inside, noting the way Kaitlyn's eyes lit up with hope upon his entering.

"I've talking to my boss, agent Hughes," Peter started, taking a seat across from Kaitlyn. "The absolute best offer I can give you is… everything you stole in exchange for a new family."

"So I'd be put in the foster care system?" she asked.

"No…you'd actually be staying with my family, if that's alright with you."

The senior agent could tell she was surprised by his offer. He continued : "You'd be living with me, my wife Elizabeth, and most of the time, my adopted son Neal. You already met him."

"He was the man at the auction," Kaitlyn put together. "'Carson Goddard.'"

"Correct. He's a great guy, just a little mischievous. I'm guessing you too are a lot alike in that area," he chuckled. Kaitlyn grinned sheepishly and shrugged.

"I'd love to live with your family, but…" The girls' eyes darkened and shined over with tears. "But I don't think it's a good idea."

"Why not?" Peter asked, concerned.

"I can't guarantee that I'll always behave," she said quietly. "Sometimes I act without thinking. And…I have really awful nightmares…it's not an easy thing to deal with."

Peter smiled at her comfortingly. "Honey, believe me, I am more than prepared to deal with that," he said. "Neal goes through the same things. You'll be at home with us – I promise, we will never turn our backs on you or abandon you. Let me help you."

Kaitlyn took a shaky breath and nodded. A couple of hours later, every stolen item were in FBI custody, ready to be returned to their rightful owners. Kaitlyn's very few possessions were packed up and sent the Burke's residence. Not surprisingly, she and Neal got along very well, whispering to each other and giggling just like siblings did. Neal helped Kaitlyn set up her room, formally the last remaining guest room.

Sure enough, once the girl had washed off most of the makeup and changed into casual, around the house clothes, it was obvious that she was 15. Her eyes were wide and bright blue/green, emphasized by her naturally long, blonde eyelashes. Her hair, a light honey blonde, cascaded down to the middle of her back in soft waves. She was a very pretty girl, and it was hard to believe that she'd committed such huge thefts.

She got along wonderfully with Satchmo – her and the dog played constantly, whether it be fetch or wrestling in the living room. Contagious, girlish giggles echoed throughout the house little bells. It warmed the Burkes to the core, and caused everyone's moods to peek at an all-time high.

oOo

Kaitlyn sat on her bed, positioned directly next to the open window, and watched young children play basketball on the street. The sun rays rested on her pale cheeks, warming them to a soft pink color. She played with a piece of her hair and sighed, watching a 'momma bird' feed her little babies in a nearby tree. She felt sad today, almost borderline depressed. She hadn't even smiled, and it was half past noon.

She'd spent a week with the Burkes so far and she absolutely adored them. She'd been given a tracking bracelet, slender and indestructible and attractive enough to Kaitlyn's liking. That didn't stop her from missing her old family. She kept having little flashbacks of them, like last night when she and El had been making brownies together, a little memory of she and her own mother had spent a lone Saturday night baking brownies for when daddy got home. When Peter and her had gone grocery shopping and Peter had stopped by the sports department, she remembered a time when her dad had accidentally knocked over an entire baseball card stand by accident. She found herself missing her family for the first time in quite a while. She'd never been close with her father or her sister. Her mother and she had a great relationship, but Kaitlyn could never open up to her about anything in fear that her mom would not want to deal with any of her problems.

She was just as scared to open up to the Burkes. She could never tell them about her history of self-harm, self-loathing, under-age drinking problems and suicidal thoughts. They wouldn't want her anymore, they wouldn't want to deal with such a damaged child. Nobody did, so she would keep them to herself. Everything would be fine….eventually.

**TBC**

** I'm sorry this took so long! More to come, definitely. Also, if you've been following my wrestling themed stories, a one-shot for that storyline should be up soon. Review please :D**

**~Rebecca**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three – Kaitlyn's Breakdown**

"Kaitlyn, sweetie, dinner's ready!" Elizabeth called.

"Be down in a second!" Kaitlyn answered. She stood in front of the mirror in the upstairs bathroom, staring herself in the face. She traced the scars of the old self-inflicted wounds that plagued her arms. She hated them. She could remember the order in which they were cut, the reasons for every single one of them. It was vividly burned into her memory. There was a knock on the door, and she quickly rolled down her sleeves as far as they would go.

"We're starving, kiddo," Peter said from outside the door. "Are you almost ready?"

Putting on a game face, she opened the door and nodded, following Peter downstairs to the dinner table. Neal and El were deep in discussion over the discovery of some new paintings in Italy. She sat down between Peter and El, and they bowed their heads as Peter prayed over the food.

Peter paid close attention to his daughter of one month. Her attitude had changed lately. She no longer played with Satchmo or went to the park with Neal. She mostly kept to herself, which was very odd. Kaitlyn reminded him so much of Neal, and when Neal was quiet, something was wrong. Peter had a strong notion that it was the same with Kaitlyn. The only time she really acted like she wanted attention was when her nightmares sent her screaming into consciousness, and she found herself being rocked back to sleep in the ever loving arms of Peter Burke.

"Would you like to do something tomorrow?" he asked her. "Neal and I will have the day off, we could all do something as a family."

Kaitlyn smiled and said, "Sure, whatever you guys want to do."

_She's way too eager to please us, _Peter thought. _It's like she's afraid of losing us. We need to prove to her that we're going to be here for her no matter what._

"Nope. Whatever _you _want to do, sweetie," Elizabeth corrected gently.

"I'm fine with anything," she tried to assure them.

"Come on, sis," Neal nudged, "there's gotta be something you want to do."

Something lit up in her eyes.

"Ah ha! I saw that," Peter laughed.

"Saw what?"

"You thought of something, I _know _it. Spill."

Kaitlyn sighed, but relented. "I want to go roller skating."

Neal high fived her from across the table, obviously excited over the idea of going roller skating with his family. Peter nodded approvingly and El praised her on such a splendid idea.

Kaitlyn seemed to be a little more open that night.

oOo

The next day, at precisely 1:00, the family of four headed to Skate-Wave. They ordered soft pretzels and pop and enjoyed their outing to the fullest. Kaitlyn and Neal raced around the arena for over an hour, while the smiling Peter and Elizabeth watched from their table. Whenever one of them fell, they couldn't help the sudden tightness that would appear in their stomachs if fear that they might be hurt, but both of them made it out alive and well.

Before they left, Neal and Kaitlyn were successful in convincing Peter and El out onto the skating rink. Elizabeth glided around the arena beautifully – Peter, however, was a little less graceful, as he used the rails to guide himself around the rink while little 6 year olds zipped past him on their own.

"It's not that hard, Peter," Kaitlyn giggled, latching onto his wrist and pulling him off the railing.

"I don't skate," he stated dryly. Kaitlyn laughed harder and pulled him along. However, a young boy almost as bad at skating as Peter, came a little too close to Peter, causing the older man to lose balance and topple over, eliciting a small cry of "Daddy!" from Kaitlyn.

Although he sat on the cold blue floor with a now-sore rump, he felt the same warmth blossom inside of him that he felt whenever Neal called him dad. Kaitlyn, however, looked sick with panic.

"I-I'm so sorry, Peter," she said, helping Peter off of the ground. "I honestly didn't mean to say that, it was completely by accident - "

"Hey, hey," Peter interrupted, stopping her panicked rambling. "I don't mind at all – Neal calls me dad all the time, and I love it."

"But I'm not Neal," Kaitlyn argued. "I'm just…just…Kaitlyn. Why would you ever want _me _as a daughter?" she asked, honestly confused. Peter's eyes stung with tears at those words, at how little self-worth she thought she had. He was about to answer when Elizabeth rolled up and asked if he wanted to go home now.

He glanced over at Kaitlyn for a second and saw that she was no longer looking at him. She skated off to their table, and began taking off her skates.

"Yeah," Peter sighed. "I think we're done for the day."

oOo

Kaitlyn was quiet at dinner that night. She only spoke when she was spoken to, and she never once made eye contact with Peter. All in all, it was not an enjoyable dinner, even though they were eating El's best dish, tortellini soup with sundried tomatoes.

Finally, Peter had about enough of Kaitlyn's distantness.

"Kaitlyn, I need to see you upstairs for a moment," he said after they had both finished their soup.

"Alright," she answered quietly, getting up from the table and heading upstairs, without another word. Peter was about to follow her, but Elizabeth stopped him.

"Do you know why she's acting so distant?" she asked, worry evident in her voice. Peter nodded, "She called me 'daddy' at the skating rink by accident, and it really upset her for some reason. I told it was perfectly alright, but she couldn't seem to grasp that."

"Make sure she knows that we love her unconditionally," Elizabeth said firmly. "I know she loved her own father, but I think there was more to their relationship then she lets on."

Peter was about to agree with her when they heard Satchmo barking from the backyard. Peter grabbed his gun and immediately went into Protective-Agent-Father mode. He cracked open the door and peeked outside. He suddenly stormed outside, gun back in its holster. Seconds later he was dragging a very familiar, struggling teenage girl into the house.

oOo

Kaitlyn closed her bedroom door and quickly grabbed her satchel. Stuffing a pair of jeans and a tee shirt inside, threw it out of her window and grabbed her makeshift rope made of three extra sheets that she'd taken from the laundry room. She carefully but quickly made her way down the rope, and landed with a thud. She didn't, however, realize that Satchmo was tethered out back, and started barking up a storm the second he knew she was in his presence.

"Shhhh! You'll give me away, Satch!" she said, trying desperately to calm the large dog, but he wasn't having any of it. The next thing she knew, she was being ushered back into the house by one very angry Peter Burke.

"What in the _world _do you think you're _doing_?" he asked, grabbing onto her shoulders and forcing her to look at him.

"I-I…" she started to answer but didn't want to finish. She felt as if she was crumbling under his gaze. He looked at her with a combination of anger and fright – like he'd been scared about what might have happened had he not caught her before she'd left the house.

"Do you have any idea what kind of people could be out there right now? Who would kill at the chance to their hands on a pretty young blonde? Kaitlyn, you could have been seriously _hurt,_" Elizabeth said, her voice thick with emotion as she wrapped her arms around the girl. Kaitlyn's breath caught in her throat. Peter wrapped both of them in a tight hug, and that seemed to be the shattering point for Kaitlyn.

"I'm so sorry," Kaitlyn said, finally finding her voice. "I just…I didn't want to be a bother to you guys, and when I accidentally called Peter 'daddy' I thought he would be upset and - "

"Stop right there," Peter interrupted. "You shouldn't have assumed that – I was going to tell you when I went upstairs to talk to you that I would love it if you would call me dad."

"That…that's ridiculous, Peter," Kaitlyn said, stepping away from them. "Don't lie to me, Peter, I can't - "

"I'm not lying, sweetheart," Peter tried to assure her, but she suddenly flew into a fit of fury that rivaled Neal's.

"Yes you _are_!" she screamed. "You just want to earn my trust so that I'll be a good little girl for you! You don't love me, STOP LYING!"

Peter tried to get close to her but she slapped his hands away and stayed farther back. A few stray tears were spilling down her cheeks, and Peter had never seen so emotions on one face: fear, anger, desperation, anguish. She wasn't trying to hide anything at this point.

"Kaitlyn, sweetheart, you _need _to calm down," Peter soothed. He noticed Neal watching from foot of the stairs, eyes wide with nervousness. Neal nodded towards him as a way of saying he was there to help if Peter needed it. Kaitlyn saw Peter's eyes look past her, and she whipped around to see what he was looking at. Realizing she was cornered, she had a literal mental breakdown: she pressed herself against the wall and covered her head with her arms, sliding down onto the floor and becoming a sobbing mess on the floor.

Elizabeth felt so helpless, watching this terrifying and heartbreaking scene take place before her eyes. All she could do was watch while Kaitlyn suffered through the breakdown, and that made her cry. Neal went to his mother and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his comforting embrace.

Peter very slowly approached Kaitlyn, careful not to do anything to further this breakdown.

"It's OK, baby girl," he said softly. "It's OK. I won't hurt you, I won't leave you. I'll never betray you're trust. I want your trust because I want to make you happy, I want you to feel as much a part of this family as we consider you to be. You're so precious to us, so special."

Her sobbing quieted, but she kept herself in her feeble position.

He reached over and rested his large hand on the side of her head, encouraged when she leaned into his touch instead of recoiling. Taking a chance, he gathered her practically weightless frame up into his arms. She held onto him so tight that Peter swore he felt his ribs crack, but he ignored it. The important thing here was comforting _his _daughter, _his _little girl.

And rest assured, there would be a lot of comforting.

oOo

**TBC**

**Enjoy it? I hope so :D This was a crazy emotional thing her me to write so I hope it is satisfactory to you all. **

**THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL CONTAIN SPANKING. Just a warning. So heed it lol.**

**Love you guys****  
REVIEW!**

**~Rebecca**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four – Someone Who Cares**

**WARNING: SPANKING OF MINOR IN THIS CHAPTER.**

Peter sat in silence as his daughter slept fitfully in his arms. He couldn't think; he couldn't speak. The scene that had played out kept playing over in his head, and it made him want to scream. He should've done better, made sure that Kaitlyn _knew _that she was wanted, that she was loved. He felt like a failure even though a part of him told him that this had been unavoidable.

Even in her sleep, Kaitlyn held onto Peter tightly, like she was afraid that he would leave her while she was sleeping. He didn't know what had caused such a lack of trust and self-worth in the girl, but it was heartbreaking. Peter aimed to take care of that.

Neal quietly crept into the room and sat down next to Peter, lightly stroking his sister's hair. "Is she OK?" he asked.

"Probably," Peter sighed. "That was one hell of a breakdown she had back there."

"I noticed. I don't think any of mine were ever that bad, even before I met you."

Peter sighed again. He wished Kaitlyn could be as happy as she'd been when she had first come to live with them. He missed her laugh, which sounded like heavenly little bells. Over the course of time she seemed to just close herself off from them. She'd get lost in her thoughts, so much so that she would forget that they could see her and her face would vary from a wide variety of expressions, from extreme sadness to a hint of a smile. Peter wished more than anything to could see what went through her head.

"What are you going to do about the fact that she tried to run away?" Neal asked.

"Exactly how I would handle it if you attempted to run away," the older man said. "She'll be taking a trip over my knee as soon as she and I have a very in-depth conversation about how much we love her."

Neal nodded. He knew from past experience that this was going to be so hard for Kaitlyn, but she was strong – he could tell just by looking at her. Not invincible, but strong.

oOo

Kaitlyn was shaking. They hated her. They realized that they had taken on a problem way too hard to deal with. Why _did I try to run away? _She thought to herself. _Maybe if I'd just tried harder. Been a better daughter. Hadn't screwed up and called Peter 'dad.' I'm so stupid…_

The door to her room opened and Peter entered. He didn't even say anything. He immediately wrapped the girl in his arms and just held her, refusing to do anything until Kaitlyn finally relaxed into his arms. Once she did he said, "You really scared us today."

"How?"

"We could've lost you, never seen you again. That would've killed us."

Instead at going into another breakdown, this time his words brought tears to her eyes. He didn't hate her, he _cared _about her. Peter loved her as much as he loved Neal or Elizabeth. The realization of that was shockingly powerful and caused tears to spill down her cheeks. Peter, seeing her tears knew that he could proceed.

"I can't let you go unpunished for running away," he said quietly. Kaitlyn tensed but said nothing. "You'll be getting a spanking; it's nothing more than what Neal gets when he misbehaves."

Still nothing. Just tensing. Taking a chance, he turned her over his knee and gauged her reaction. She wasn't fighting and him and that was definitely a good sign. He took a deep breath and started the spanking.

The first swat left her stunned, surprised at how much one swat actually _hurt. _Peter peppered her bottom with swat after _damn hard swat, _and Kaitlyn swore her rear end was on fire. She cried, reaching back to shield her bottom with her hand. Sighing, Peter firmly locked her hand at the small of her back and continued on with her spanking. Normally he would have bared her butt for a stunt like that, but it was her first spanking – Peter figured it was fair to be lenient this time.

A few minutes later, Kaitlyn broke, sobbing hard and giving up any struggles she had left.

"Don't you _ever _try to run away again, understand?" Peter asked.

"Y-YES!" she cried, nodding wildly.

"We love you – are family isn't complete without you, Kaitlyn."

"I-I'm soooo s-sorryyyy," she sobbed, burying her face in her arm. "D-Didn't mean t-to scare you."

"I know," Peter said softly. He brought her back into his arms and held her until he heard soft snores coming from his little girl. Kissing the top of her head, he gently tucked her into her bed and switched out the light. He made his way downstairs for some much needed comforting from his wife.

Elizabeth saw the barely noticeable tear tracks on Peter's face and knew exactly would had just taken place. They embraced each other, not saying anything until El broke the silence.

"You cried when you first spanked Neal, too."

"What? No I didn't."

"You fell asleep on the couch with him in your arms. I don't think you ever noticed your tears."

That didn't surprise Peter that much. It was always hard spanking his son. Neal was a very kind, big-hearted young man, and it killed Peter to have to punish him.

"I think we should get them a pet," Elizabeth said a little while later.

"What, like a goldfish?"

"No, like…like a kitten."

Peter considered this. He knew how much Neal loved kittens, and while Kaitlyn loved Satchmo, he knew that it was in a girl's nature to adore little kittens. "That's a really good idea, hon. I think I'll take them over to the shelter to decide on one this weekend."

Smiling, El pecked him on the lips and went upstairs to get her children for dinner.

Neal was already out the door upon hearing his mom's footsteps coming up the stairs. Elizabeth creaked open Kaitlyn's door and saw that she was still fast asleep, and looking very comfortable. She sat on the bed next to her and gently nudged her awake.

She moaned and muttered a 'hi, mom,' before rolling over to catch a couple more minutes of sleep. Chuckling, Elizabeth nudged her again. "Come on, sweety, it's time for dinner. I made spaghetti and garlic French bread."

At the mention of garlic French bread, Kaitlyn sat right up. Wincing at the soreness of her bottom, she walked hand-in-hand with Elizabeth down to the dinner table. All in all, it was very enjoyable dinner, filled with laughter and bonding, and everything else Kaitlyn hadn't experienced as a family in a very long time. She would always miss her old family, and she didn't think she'd ever _truly _get over their deaths, but now she had a new family to help her cope with life after that tragedy.

And she was perfectly okay with that.

THE END

**I really hope you guys liked it! I felt like this was a good time to end this one. Kaitlyn will pop up in later one-shots, I promise! HOWEVER I have made a decision.**

** If you are a fan of my wrestling story "Big, Happy Family", then you're in luck – I've decided to keep posting chapters for it. I KNOW, AWESOME RIGHT? Be sure to check it out – they're enjoyable even if you don't watch wrestling **

**LOVE YOU!  
~Rebecca **


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